Building Capacity through Knowledge Sharing: Translating Seoul’s ICT-based Civic Participation System to Mumbai

This study attempts to translate knowledge gained from the Seoul Metropolitan Government s water supply and sewerage services complaint handling system to building a similar ICT-enabled civic participation system (CPS) in the city of Mumbai, India. The aim is to develop a robust and sustainable model for ICT-enabled civic participation in India that can be extended to further areas of public provision, enhancing inclusiveness, accountability and smart infrastructure investment at the same time. The study analyzed the current status of water supply and sewerage service provision in Seoul and Mumbai via performance, complaints, and suggestions, resulting in multiple policy and system development tasks. The CPS road map defines CPS unit requirements, recommends a CPS ‘to-be’ conceptual model based on the Seoul case and including details of system and service design, and defines a policy/system road map broken down into four phases: unit service, CPS foundation, advancement, and stabilization. The paper serves as a knowledge-sharing template between industrialized and industrializing metropolitan governments facing the challenges of rapid development while striving to deliver on accountability and inclusiveness. The ICT-enhanced civic partnership model at once builds transparency and response capacity in public services while achieving sustainable infrastructure improvements.